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Tenants were forced to leave the Brewster Street building a week ago after the city declared it uninhabitable. Fire officials said the fire reported early Thursday morning heavily damaged the building.

The 911 call originally reported that the fire was on Islington Street, but firefighters quickly determined it was on neighboring Brewster Street.

"Upon our arrival around the corner, we found fire heavily involved to the rear of the building," Capt. Richard Murphy said.

Forty tenants had to leave the building a week ago when it was declared unsafe. Even though the building was supposed to be unoccupied, firefighters said they had to be sure.

"We did a primary search of the building," Murphy said. "The building is vacant, but we wanted to make sure that no one was still in the building."

No one was inside the building.

Fire officials said they believe the fire started outside the rear of the building, but they don't know how it started or why.

"It was our understanding that all the utilities had been turned off," Murphy said.

Murphy said the building is an old structure, which made it difficult to fight the fire, but firefighters were able to get it under control in about an hour without any injuries.

There was fire and smoke damage to a first-floor unit, and fire and heat damage to second- and third-floor units at the rear of the building.

The state fire marshal's office is also assisting in the investigation.